31 July 2009
UK Factoid of the Day
23 July 2009
UK Factoid of the Day
Now, there is some debate here, amongst both my American ex-pat friends and the British themselves, as to whether cupcakes and fairy cakes are indeed the same thing. At most grocery stores, they sell desserts labeled both "cupcakes" and "fairy cakes" that appear to be nearly identical.
At first, we thought that "fairy cakes" were simply petite-sized cupcakes. But, this proved to be wrong.
British people have told me that fairy cakes are lighter in texture than cupcakes and that they are topped with "British icing" (aka, a light glaze of sugar or chocolate) instead of "American icing" (aka, a big wallop of butter cream). However, I have seen desserts labeled "fairy cakes" that look exactly like American cupcakes!
So, I'm going to go ahead and make it official (as official as this little blog can be) and say that Cupcakes and Fairy cakes are the same thing.
21 July 2009
UK Factoid of the Day
It is an office supply that is used to fasten pieces of paper together, or to a folder. It consists of two small metal bars connected by a piece of string. Treasury Tags are threaded through holes made by a hole-punch, like so:
17 July 2009
Pamplona for San Fermin (Running of the Bulls)
San Fermin is the Spanish festival celebrating Saint Fermin (duh), who is the co-patron of the Navarre region of Spain (in which Pamplona is found). Nobody is really sure as to when it started, but the festival has been celebrated uninterrupted since 1592. As for the Running of the Bulls itself (which is just one part of the festival), it first originated with the need to move the bulls from the city corral, where they were placed until the day of their fight, to the plaza de toros. The town's youth would run with and through the herd as the animals progressed through the town square. In Pamplona, Saint Fermin (who was actually martyred at Amiens) is now sometimes said to have met his end by being dragged through the streets of Pamplona by bulls. The festival became famous to the English-speaking world thanks to Hemingway’s novel “The Sun Also Rises” in which it is discussed.
We arrived in time for the opening ceremony, which took place at noon on the 6th of July. I wish I could tell you more about this ceremony, but all I know is that about half a million people (no exaggeration) packed into the town square, some rockets were set off, and then everyone started spraying each other with champagne/ketchup/wine/whatever you had. It was an amazing experience and tons of fun, but I have to say that I’ve never before been so afraid for my life. The fact that I was not trampled in the chaos is a small miracle (or large one- depending on how you look at it).
A picture I stole off the internet of the opening ceremony- we're in there somewhere!!
Me enjoying some Calimocho
I’m finding it difficult to find words to describe the actual Running of the Bulls itself. Chaos. Thrilling. Terrifying. Amazing. And I didn’t even run! There is virtually no order to the run at all. Anyone can just show up and stand in the street, if you’re there when the bulls are let out (signified by a rocket being launched), watch out! I was shocked at the number of people who participated in the run- it had to have been in the thousands!
The way we figured it, the run is actually pretty safe except for two things:
1) The people. When you have 2,000 people running for their lives down a narrow street, the changes of getting swept under the stampede are high.
2) A stray bull. As long as the bulls stay in their pack, there is little chance that one will attack you. However, if a bull gets separated (which happens often as they slip on the cobble-stoned streets), watch out! A lone bull will attack everything in sight. Someone was killed on one of the last days of the Running this year after a stray bull gored him through the neck.
Our group in Pamplona
Bobby and I didn’t run, but almost everyone else in our group did. Looking back on it, I kind of wish I would have done it. I doubt if I’ll ever go back to San Fermin, so that might have been my only chance! I highly recommend the experience (by far, the most insane thing I have every witnessed), but once was enough for me.
16 July 2009
UK Factoid of the Day
13 July 2009
Bordeaux
Bordeaux at night
As I’m sure you're all aware, Bordeaux is famous for its fantastic wines and most people visit this region of France purely for the wine tasting- and taste wine we did! I would say that the city of Bordeaux itself is completely skipable. While it did have some very nice parks in which you can sit and enjoy a fabulous picnic of French wine, cheese and bread (all of the best things about France), the city is otherwise not very interesting. I think most people just use the city as a home base for wine tasting- and rightly so! Just 15 minutes out of the city you find yourself in the heart of wine country. Vineyards and sunflower-filled fields span as far as the eye can see.French picnic: Baguette, Brie, Jambon and Wine
We drove from Bordeaux to St. Emilion stopping at a few of the most famous vineyards along the way. They were so famous, that they didn’t let ordinary people like us in to taste the wine! Only wine experts and the super-rich allowed.
Chateau Cheval Blanc: Owned by the Louis Vuitton empire and too fancy to let us in!
Bottles of Petrus wine go for about 5,000 euro a bottle (about $7,000)
I adored St. Emilion, despite the fact that it was packed with tourists. A small mountain of a town, it is topped by a historic Catholic church and contains tiny, winding, cobble-stoned streets lined with shops and cafes all the way down to the surrounding vineyards. The St. Emilion region is said to have some of the best wine in the world.
Me, St. Emilion
We spent an all-too-short hour or so in St. Emilion, just enough time to grab a sandwich and gawk at the rustic beauty, before heading on to château Clos de Madeline to do some wine tasting. We were greeted by the very friendly and exuberant owner who led our tasting, taught us the proper way to taste wine (“you must first warm it up in your hand, smell, swirl 6 times, smell, taste, swirl again”), taught us about the wine aging process and how to decant wine properly if you are trying to drink wine while it is “too young.” Our conversation often revolved around the effect of Global Warming on the French wine industry-something the château owner was very concerned about. He informed us that they were testing vines from the center of Africa to incorporate into their crop- as these vines would be more able to withstand the heat. He also informed us that some British wine-lovers are already beginning to plant vineyards on the southern coast of Great Britain, with the expectation that the weather will be the perfect temperature there in 10-20 years for wine. He told us, and I quote: “French people drinking British wine? Never! It will be world war three!!”
The Chateau owner
The countryside of Bordeaux was beautiful and the people extremely friendly- I would highly recommend a wine-tasting excursion here if you ever get the chance. Be forewarned, however, that unlike my wine-tasting experiences in California, vineyards truly expect you to buy wine after the tasting!! In fact, if you didn’t purchase wine after the tasting, they charged you 10 euro. This is understandable to me in the long run, but could become very expensive if you visited lots of châteauxs!!
After our visit to Clos de Madeline, we headed onto Pamplona, Spain for the San Fermin festival (aka Running of the Bulls) and the next leg of our journey!
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One of Lara's paintings entitled "Cows in Field"
10 July 2009
Barcelona
At the end of June, our friends Brian and Candace came out from the states. They spent a few days in London, but we also convinced them to travel with us to Barcelona, a city I have long wanted to visit.
We spent our first day in Barcelona walking up and down La Rambla, the city’s main shopping/people watching boulevard. We loved its restaurants filled with paella as well as all of the food markets.
The next day, we hopped on the train and headed 45 minutes south of Barcelona to the beach town of Sitges. Lined with old Spanish churches and courtyards, this town had a very wonderful old-world feel to it. However, once you delve into the town centre, you are instantly aware of why it is called one of Spain’s biggest party retreats. Bars line most streets and colourful drinks are aplenty!
On our last day in Barcelona, we headed north of the city to Park Guell, which was also designed by Gaudi. It was originally planned as a city retreat for the wealthy, but was never really completed. It was wonderful to walk through the park and see all of Gaudi’s nature-inspired designs intertwined with the Spanish landscape.
If I were every to go back to Barcelona, I would definitely plan on staying in Sitges and making day trips into the City instead of the other way around. While Barcelona was fantastic, there wasn’t a lot to do there and it would have been nice to sit on Sitges’ beautiful beaches a while longer!
09 July 2009
UK Factoid of the Day
Put your left leg in
your left leg out
In
out
in
out
shake it all about
Do the Hokey-Cokey
and you turn around
That's what it's all about
I like Cokey
I like Cokey
I like Cokey
Knees bent
arms stretched
rah
rah
rah